Hello all, I'm a first time poster here to Rock Climbing although a longtime lurker/member of the climbing community over in /r/Climbing from reddit.

Anyways, I was redirected here from there and I want to spread awareness and learn more myself on how to deal with the problems of climbers coming into a very small, old town in Mexico.

I will be posting a long story and a short story so feel free to read the part you have time for.

Long StoryGuadalcazar, San Luis Potosi, Mexico is the (very) small town which my Grandma is from and is current living there. My mom and her family also grew up there from childhood until the mid-teens. I was google searching the town (I visit extensively) because I wanted to write a short comprehensive history of it so that the knowledge would not be lost.

To my delight, I found a website called fiveten.com had visited there and had listed Guadalcazar as one of the top places to climb in Mexico. The reason I was so happy is because it's a dying town with little population and only a huge boom during the winter and summer months for the town festivals. I think the population is around 500 - 700 people.

Article on the town by FiveTen: http://fiveten.com/commuller munity/blog-detail/14381-climbing-in-guadalcazar-mexico-urs-moos

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWhvvboZjXU

I'm not sure if the guy in the article (American climber Urs Moosmuller) and the guy in the video who credited for finding and mapping climbing routes in most of Mexico (Christian Ehlert) are famous climbers but they've done some great work marking Guadalcazar as a tourist destination.

I showed this to my mom who runs the public Facebook page for the town and is on several committees in the town and she said that Christian had recently contacted her before he shot the video asking for hotel information. Sounds good so far right? Well, here comes the bad part. The climbers have been known to all the people within the town to destroy Stalagmites that have been forming in over a metre length. They do so (I'm assuming since I'm no climber) either by accident while climbing and/or drilling as is shown in the video. I'm not sure what is or isn't allowed but the destruction of such beautiful rock formations is just unbearable to watch. Guadalcazar right now is virgin territory and the town is in possession of gorgeous shots of caves and grotto that it is afraid to publish for fear of more destructive climbers.

This is where I need your help, guys. Where can I go to contact these guys who are very clearly making the map to come here. I want to let them know that climbers are encouraged as the tourism could bring a breathe of fresh air into the town and put it on the map, nationally. However, there has to a level of respect should these routes continued to traversed for years to come. If you guys have ANY contact information or could show how not offend these guys, that'd be great. Thank you.

Short Version

Climbers have discovered Guadalcazar, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. A small town which my grandma is from. However they are destroying the virgin territory and natural rocks around them. <b>How can I get in contact with them/ communicate without offending to come to an agreement that would benefit both parties? Thanks. (Links to the article and video can be found above)</b>

Hello all, I'm a first time poster here to Rock Climbing although a longtime lurker/member of the climbing community over in /r/Climbing from reddit.

Anyways, I was redirected here from there and I want to spread awareness and learn more myself on how to deal with the problems of climbers coming into a very small, old town in Mexico.

I will be posting a long story and a short story so feel free to read the part you have time for.

Long StoryGuadalcazar, San Luis Potosi, Mexico is the (very) small town which my Grandma is from and is current living there. My mom and her family also grew up there from childhood until the mid-teens. I was google searching the town (I visit extensively) because I wanted to write a short comprehensive history of it so that the knowledge would not be lost.

To my delight, I found a website called fiveten.com had visited there and had listed Guadalcazar as one of the top places to climb in Mexico. The reason I was so happy is because it's a dying town with little population and only a huge boom during the winter and summer months for the town festivals. I think the population is around 500 - 700 people.

Article on the town by FiveTen: http://fiveten.com/commuller munity/blog-detail/14381-climbing-in-guadalcazar-mexico-urs-moos

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWhvvboZjXU

I'm not sure if the guy in the article (American climber Urs Moosmuller) and the guy in the video who credited for finding and mapping climbing routes in most of Mexico (Christian Ehlert) are famous climbers but they've done some great work marking Guadalcazar as a tourist destination.

I showed this to my mom who runs the public Facebook page for the town and is on several committees in the town and she said that Christian had recently contacted her before he shot the video asking for hotel information. Sounds good so far right? Well, here comes the bad part. The climbers have been known to all the people within the town to destroy Stalagmites that have been forming in over a metre length. They do so (I'm assuming since I'm no climber) either by accident while climbing and/or drilling as is shown in the video. I'm not sure what is or isn't allowed but the destruction of such beautiful rock formations is just unbearable to watch. Guadalcazar right now is virgin territory and the town is in possession of gorgeous shots of caves and grotto that it is afraid to publish for fear of more destructive climbers.

This is where I need your help, guys. Where can I go to contact these guys who are very clearly making the map to come here. I want to let them know that climbers are encouraged as the tourism could bring a breathe of fresh air into the town and put it on the map, nationally. However, there has to a level of respect should these routes continued to traversed for years to come. If you guys have ANY contact information or could show how not offend these guys, that'd be great. Thank you.

Short Version

Climbers have discovered Guadalcazar, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. A small town which my grandma is from. However they are destroying the virgin territory and natural rocks around them. <b>How can I get in contact with them/ communicate without offending to come to an agreement that would benefit both parties? Thanks. (Links to the article and video can be found above)</b>

In case someone hasn't already mentioned it on reddit, one option is to write/film a good story and reach out to climbing/outdoor magazines and sites with something they'll cover/publish. Raising awareness through forums and social media so it's topical will make it more attractive to publishers.

Sponsors don't want to be associated with negative publicity and will disown athletes/ambassadors who engage in practices which cause it (eg. Patagonia & Dean Potter).

This in turn will raise other climbers' awareness that this is an unacceptable practice.

Another suggestion would be to work with the local climbs and route developers as well as townfolk to identify certain areas of the best climbing and the most fragile natural structures. If the rock formations can't be climbed without destroying them, work with the landowners and city to identify and preserve those specific areas (maybe the ones you have nice photos of). At the same time, identify areas that are already being developed for climbing, and try to promote those, make trails for easy access where appropriate, etc. You want to make sure climbers have lots of access (including undeveloped areas for expansion and new routes), but also understand certain areas are too fragile for climbing. I don't know if there are best practices known for developing without destroying features, but those should be shared. I don't think many in the climbing community want to see cool rock features destroyed anymore than your town does.

It really comes down to the local developers though, and trying to promote good practices. Get the climbers on your side of preserving things and providing good places to climb, try not to make it adversarial.